Camera Flashes
by Chrissy Truman
Summary: Grace is broken. Colin has a camera. So, one day I invented this angry, beaten girl to be Colin Creevey's best friend. And, it turned out kind of great. Read and your risks. Reviews are also appreciated. Currently Under Revision
1. Le Revision

Revision Notice

AN:This fic is in the process of being revised.

Chapter One: Is completed.

Chapter Two: Is completed.

Chapter Three: Is completed.

Chapter Four: Is completed.

Chapter Five: Is pending...


	2. Swing it Around

Camera Flashes

By: Chrissy Truman

Author's Note: This started out as very "Colin centri" but it balanced out a bit as I came to kind of adore Grace. I wrote this mostly because I think some people ended up seeing Colin as this goofy little kid. But, he was sixteen during the Battle of Hogwarts, he came back to the school even though he'd gone into hiding. And I felt he deserved better than that. So, here he is through the eyes of Grace Vale.

Disclaimer: I only own Grace and her shit storm. Colin and everything else belongs to the beautiful J.K. Rowling

He always used to be the short one, impossibly and all mostly unbearably small. Then, in fifth year he'd hit that massive growth spurt and was all gangly limbs and stumbling. Death had made him small again. She knelt there in the heavy silence of the Great Hall, for that one miserable hour, held his lifeless had and remembered...

**First Year**

"Hold on! You're going to fall out of the bloody boat!"

The night air was cool, but not unpleasantly so and the sky was full of stars, more than she'd ever seen before. She was miles away from drunken fists and raised voices. Things might have been just about perfect if she hadn't been landed with a total nutter.

"Sit down! You're tipping the boat," she yelled as water began to spill over the lip.

"But I swore I saw it! It was a tentacle, really," the boy said excitedly, leaning wildly over the edge of the boat, his eyes fixed on the dark water.

"Well, of course, you did. My sister says that there's a giant-."

"Look, there it is, there it is!" he yelled over her, jumping up and down, pointing frantically at a dark skinny shape a few feet away. Water rushed into the boat as she madly grabbed at his robes and yanked him down, back on to his seat. And, then she slapped him. It wasn't a particular hard slap, but neither was it a gentle pat on the cheek. It was effective in receiving his full attention

"Don't move," she snapped. "Or I'll... I'll hex you!" She fumbled around in the pockets of her robes, pulling her wand out and pushing the tip against his nose. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd do if he didn't listen, maybe hit him on the head with it. As empty a threat as it was, it managed to have the desired effect. Wide brown eyes crossed, the boy nodded mutely. She withdrew her wand, pocketed it and continued to glare at him until the boat bumped up against the opposite bank. He nervously offered her a hand after clambering out of the boat himself, only to have it angrily swatted away. The boy watched her stumble out of the boat drenching her shoes, and the bottom of her robe.

"Sorry," he said quietly, before quickly turning to hide in a large group of babbling students. Everyone else seemed to give her a wide berth after that. She stood alone in a corner of the room they had been told to wait in. So, maybe she had over-reacted a little bit. But, she had absolutely hated the water, it had taken all her will power to force herself onto the boat and she just couldn't stand it when the water had come rushing in. They would have sunk; the water would have closed in around her. You weren't supposed to be afraid of things though, being afraid made you weak. And, Grace Vale wasn't allowed to be weak. So, when everyone backed away from her and left her in that corner she glared at them furiously just to show that their rejection was nothing. It was though, and it added another fault line to the already crumbling structure that made her up. But she would 't let it show. She folded her arms and glared. She didn't care, she didn't care, didn't care at all, not one bit.

The Sorting was a confusing blur, lots of people, faces and names. The boy from the boat was Colin; she hadn't caught his last name. But really, he didn't seem too bad, maybe she should apologize. She was among the last to be called up to the stool. Her sister had told her about this. The hat read your mind, and then picked which house you were best for. Her sister was in Gryffindor and she crossed her fingers as she sat on the stool. She needed her sister now more than ever.

(A/N: I took a little bit of liberty with this bit because, I originally didn't plan to have it in here and I felt like some silliness wouldn't kill anybody. I also just hate in some fanfics how the sorting hat scenes are always so formulaic and cheesy. The Hat is OoC here.)

_'Hello,'_ said a cheery voice in her head.

_'Erm, hello?'_

_'How are you, this fine evening?_'

Grace scrunched up her face in confusion, she was fairly certain this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

_'Good._'

_'I'm Capital! CAPital, get it?_'

_'Oh yes very funny,' Grace replied still confused. 'Are you the right hat?'_

_'Oh indeed, Miss Vale. I am the Sorting Hat.'_

_'So shouldn't there be some sorting going on then?'_

_'Right you are! Let's have a look shall we?_ _Oh goodness me dear. Have you ever considered anger-management classes?'_

_'I-what?'_

_'Hmm, lets see. What's over here? Not very brave are we?'_

_'Hey!'_

_'A good mind, yes. Very straight forward, aren't you? Very blunt. Not exactly cunning. But, you have a taste for action, not fond of sitting quietly and reading. Oh! Very loyal, fiercely I should say...Willing to work hard, but, you'd probably terrify the other Hufflepuffs.'_

_'Hufflepuff? No! Please, just put me in Gryffindor.'_

_'I should think not! What sort of hat do you'd think I'd be if I just let everyone have their way? They'd have to make a second Gryffindor common room. Ha! Gryffindor indeed. Gryffindors can only handle so many emotional breakdowns, the Hufflepuffs will be kinder to you. You're also pessimistic, always assuming the worst. You know what? Maybe __**you**__ would be good for the Hufflepuffs, at times they can just be disgustingly optimistic.'_

_'No one ever mentioned that you were an ass.'_

_'Language! And, obviously, that's because I'm not always an ass. I can be quite cordial if the situation permits. But you know, different brains different approaches.'_

_'Can you just go on and sort me then. This is taking forever!'_

_'True very true, but don't worry too much one time it took me fifteen minutes to sort someone before. All right. You know you remind me of a badger, quite a lot actually. Bad tempered little things. Yes, better be-...'_

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat cried. There was applause, and she leapt off the stool seething. Grace spent the rest of the dinner glaring at the other Hufflepuffs and trying to discern the best way to destroy the hat. The evening was only softened by the food. Lots, and lots of food.

The gaggle of first year Gryffindors walked past the Hufflepuffs and while they waited for the Slytherins to pass she walked up the line looking for Colin. He was near the end talking animatedly with a fellow first year, who was leaning back slightly under the onslaught of speech. She coughed lightly, and he whipped around, the smile washing off his face when he saw it was her. He stumbled backwards tripping over his robes and darted up to the front of the line and hid behind a very confused looking Prefect. The rest of the first year Gryffindors frowned at her. She didn't care, she did not care, did not...care...

She went back to the Hufflepuffs and followed the Prefect to the dorms. Once in her room she climbed into the bed, one of the girls opened her mouth to say something to her and she quickly drew the curtains around her bed and slammed her face into her pillow.

Classes started the next day. She got lost twice in the morning and just barely made it to two of her classes and as it turned out she was rubbish at magic. The instructions were simple and clear, wave the stick and say the word. Nothing happened, and that was okay. It didn't happen for a lot of people either. But, then she some how managed to garble the words and squirts of boiling water shot out the tip of her wand. After that fiasco she managed to turn her match into an enraged killing machine instead of a pin. She'd said the right words and made the right movement and everything had blown up in her face. The bathroom had been a group first year girls muttering about her and sniggering. She'd sprinted blindly out of the room after that and gotten so hopelessly lost on her way to lunch that she'd kicked a suit of armor in frustration and it had kicked right back. She huddled up behind it, and clutched her swollen ankle and cried. Everyone hated her, even the decorations, she was hopeless at magic, her ankle hurt, she had no idea where the she was in the stupid bleeding castle and she was weak.

She was crying so hard she didn't hear the tentative footsteps. She didn't notice the sandy haired boy come up behind her. She did however notice when he very carefully tapped her on the shoulder.

She screamed. He screamed. Grace ended up in the corner of the recess, and Colin ended up pinned underneath a severely annoyed suit of armor that Grace had managed to kick over in her surprise. There was a brief period of silence where both boy and girl stared at each other in shock. A second passed and then they burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. For a few brief moments Grace forgot that everyone hated her and about her ankle.

"Are you, all right?" she wheezed, crawling over to the suit of armor, and lifting a heavy arm.

He tried and failed to form a coherent sentence and she shook her head grinning and helped him wriggle out from under the armor. She tried unsuccessfully to get to her feet, and fell over cursing, as the pain in her ankle made itself known again.

"Are **you,** all right?" he asked her brow furrowed in worry.

"Yes," she lied, gritting her teeth against the pain.

"Is it your ankle?"

"I said, I'm fine," she muttered angrily. He bent down and pulled back her robe. Her ankle was about twice its normal size and covered in massive black in blue splotches. She glanced up at his face, which had gone very pale. She tried carefully to edge away because she was fairly certain that he would throw up on her any second.

"That it amazing!" he cried excitedly. She frowned at him. "Hold still, hold still!" She opened her mouth to protest and then there was a loud click and bright flash of light and she was left blinking furiously.

"What the heck was that?"

He grinned happily at her. "It's my camera, my dad gave it to me. It's this thing that takes pictures, y' know? You click this button here and-..."

"I know what a camera is!" she forced out, as the pain intensified.

"Right, I'll help you the hospital wing."

She rolled her eyes.

"Okay. One: I'm nearly a head taller than you and Two: Do you even know where the Hospital Wing is?" His face fell.

"No," he said meekly. "I was actually a bit lost when I found you?"

"Well, that makes two of us."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know go find somebody else. Shout for all care. Just... If you wouldn't mind hurrying," she said her voice going hoarse over the end of it.

"Right!" he said leaping to his feet and dashing off. A minute later she heard yelling.

"Help! Help, there's a girl dying by a funny statue! Help!"

"I'm not dying!" she yelled after him. There was brief pause.

"Okay! She's not dying! Her... Her ankles hurt bad! Err, really, really bad! Help!"

After that it became increasingly difficult to focus on anything but the pain. She came back a minute or two later to see Colin racing back up the corridor followed by a rather flustered looking professor.

"Mister Creevey tells me you're dying?" she said straitening her hairpins.

"Not dying, I think I broke my ankle," she grunted.

"I'll get you to the hospital wing dear, and would you mind telling me why you're both not in class Mr. Creevey?"

"I got lost and then I heard some crying-"

"I wasn't, wasn't cry'-." Grace stuttered.

"-and then I found her behind that statue."

"I see," the professor said conjuring a stretcher out of thin air. She carefully lifted Grace with her wand on to it and they started off down the hallway again. They only got a few feet before there was a thud behind them and Professor McGonagall turned around to find Colin lying on the floor.

"Really?" she said exasperatedly and preformed the task of conjuring another stretcher.

Grace lay in the Hospital Wing on the bed next to Colin. She was propped up on her elbow flipping through a copy of the Quibbler when he woke.

He blinked for a few seconds and then turned to look at her.

"Did I die?" he asked.

"Of course not," she replied rolling her eyes. "Madam Pomfrey said that you must have cut yourself on that suit of armor pretty bad. You lost a lot of blood."

Colin sat there for a second silence, staring at her.

"Did anyone get a picture of it?" he asked finally, grinning at her lopsidedly.

"You're ridiculous!" she said trying not laugh.

"I am not!" he replied indignantly.

"Are, too!" she said chucking her pillow at him.

"Oi!"

"Excuse me." The voice was crisp, and decidedly not amused.

The pair froze, mid-laughter, to see an annoyed looking Madam Pomfrey standing over them glaring in disapproval.

"Mr. Creevey needs to rest. And you, Miss Vale should be getting on to your classes, you've missed quite enough of them as it is already."

"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison. When she turned away the exchanged a look and tried to stifle there giggles.

As Grace lay in her bed that night she mulled back over the day. It had started out as one of the worst days in her recorded history, which was quite a feat actually. No Hogwarts student ever could've had a worse beginning, she was sure. But, then, it had ended up all right.

She made it just in time for potions and that was something all together different. In that classroom it wasn't about wands or magic words, it was about making things, creating, and it was wonderful. No one in that class would care if she couldn't pronounce a word right or move her hand in a precise way. The teacher Professor Snape was, she had to admit, scary. But, he wasn't as nasty to the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as he was towards the Gryffindors.

After that, the day had only gotten better. At dinner she'd met a girl named Luna who said her father was the editor of the Quibbler. Of course, Grace thought half the articles were mad, but that wasn't to say they weren't interesting and even though Luna came off as a little mad herself she was quite nice and definitely made for interesting conversation.

And, then, Colin had come over to the Hufflepuff table jumping up and down with his camera and waving a picture in the air. He had shoved it under her nose and exclaimed:

"He signed it! He actually signed it!"

It was a slightly blurry photograph of a boy with dark hair and glasses and it looked like it had been taken at a distance from behind a clump of bushes. In his excitement he managed to knock a pitcher of pumpkin juice over and it had gotten all over a girl who'd made a snide comment about her in Charms.

She grinned at the memory of the girl shrieking in dismay about her new robes. She turned over in bed and snuggled down into her covers, maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad after all.


	3. Fists and Friendship

**First Year**

**Several Months Later**

She thought it was odd that she didn't see Colin at breakfast. She performed her traditional, surreptitious circle of the Gryfindor table, and Colin still wasn't there. Last night he'd hatched some harebrained scheme to go see Harry Potter in the hospital. He'd asked her to come along, but she had an essay for History of Magic due today, and to be honest she didn't think he would go threw with it.

_What if he had?_

The castle wasn't safe. Mrs. Norris had been attacked, and some one was running around writing creepy messages, in blood, on the walls.

_ What if...? No. He overslept. It hadn't happened before, but there was a first time for everything. He overslept, he overslept.  
><em>

_Grace _turned back in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, biting her lip in anxiety. It wasn't like she needed to see him every single morning, was it? No, she wasn't clingy. Her past had made her paranoid. But, this was school. Stuff like that didn't happen at school. It was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

Everything was not okay. It started with the fact that Grace had never been very good at multitasking, which meant walking and worrying about Colin turned into crashing into a very disheveled Professor McGonagall.

"Sorry!" Grace said quickly, scrambling to get out of the way.

"It's fine," the professor replied distractedly, brushing past her. Grace had a thought.

"Wait! Could you tell me if you've seen Colin. I haven't seen him all morning and I know last night he was thinking..."

McGonagall whirled around, and the look on her face cut Grace short.

"What?" Grace asked nervously, the panic returning quickly. Professor McGonagall looked at her with a mixture of pain and sympathy.

"Mr. Creevey was found last night in one of the corridors. I'm afraid, that he has been petrified."

The world slowed down around Grace, and the babble of the Great Hall muffled around her ears. Grace didn't exactly know what McGonagall meant by "petrified." Wasn't that what people had said happened to the cat? Wasn't the cat still like that? Would it be the same if you were human? She could hear Professor McGonagall calling something after her as she stumbled out of the Great Hall. It wasn't important, though. Colin was important. She had to find him. The Hospital Wing made the most sense. That was where Potter was, where they would take him if he was hurt. All she had was Colin and her sister. And she couldn't stand losing either of them. Colin was the best person that she'd ever met. He had to be okay. For the second time that morning, Grace crashed into another moving body. Madam Pomfrey.

"Really!" the nurse cried indignantly "This is the Hospital Wing, not a-." Pomfrey broke off once she saw Grace. "Oh," she said, her voice softening. "He's down at the end."

Numbly, Grace walked down to the end of the Wing and dragged a chair over to Colin's bed. His face was scrunched up in concentration, one eye squinted, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth. His hands were outlining the shape of a camera that wasn't there anymore.

"You idiot. You just had to try and take a bloody picture of them, didn't you? You and your stupid camera. I swear when you're back I'll throw it off the astronomy tower."

"It's no use dear, he can't hear you," Pomfrey said coming around behind her. Grace chose to ignore her.

"Did he actually get a picture of the person?"

"No, Professor Dumbledore said the film had been melted," the nurse shuddered. "I'm afraid it won't be to long before they starting sending the students home. Professor McGonagall said you could stay for half an hour before returning to your classes."

Grace's fist clenched. She couldn't go home, there wasn't a home to go back to. She'd rather stay here with whatever maniac was hiding in the castle than see her parents again.

"He did have a bag with him, full of photos. I think he was intending to show them to Mr. Potter when he arrived, bless him."

"Of course," Grace hissed under her breath. It was Potter's fault. It was always Potter's fault. "Could I see the pictures please?" she said trying with some difficulty to keep the edge out of her voice.

Grace leafed through the ridiculous quantity of photos that Colin had shoved into his book bag. Most of them were stills and the rest had been developed with the liquid that made the move. She grinned at one of Colin tackling her from behind. It had been one of those early days in the beginning of the year, before the homework had gotten too hard. They had been out by a clump of trees trying to eat chocolate frogs. It was one of her favorites, and she couldn't remember who had taken it. Colin's frog had escaped and Grace had caught it holding it up in the air in triumph, before he'd tackled her. The Grace in the picture was laughing silently, trying to simultaneously shake Colin off and keep a hold of the frog.

"You remember this one?" she asked holding up the photo to his blank eyes. "You couldn't have kept a hold of one those things if your life had depended on it." She reached back into the bag and pulled one out at random. It showed Collin levitating his feather right for the first time. His face practically glowing with joy. Colin was always so over awed when he got a spell right, like he couldn't believe he actually had magic. It was hard to be jealous when he acted like that. She couldn't help being happy for him.

She continued like that for the rest of her time, pulling out different photos and reminding him why it was important that he woke up. More often then Grace liked she came across a picture of Potter. Each time she found one, she crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. She didn't care if he was Colin's hero, that he was the-boy-who-lived. This was his fault and if she ever got her hands on him he'd be the-boy-who-hadn't-lived-for-very-long. The thought itself was only halfhearted. Somewhere inside of herself she knew it was really her fault. She should have made sure Colin hadn't gone alone, or at all for that matter. Everyone had been talking about how dangerous the castle was. She hadn't taken him seriously, no one ever seemed to.

In all honesty she was mainly jealous of Potter. He did seem to be a nice enough bloke. But, Colin never stopped going on about him. Colin was practically the only friend she had. Sure, Luna was nice, but she generally spent most of her time with some redhead from Gryfindor. Colin had made a fair number of friends. Which wasn't surprising at all. She could imagine anyone not liking Colin. And, that was probably another problem she had with Potter. She didn't like the way he treated Colin. He could be annoying and spazy but Potter never once took the chance to get to know him better. She was biased, she knew, and she didn't care. Colin was the best person in the world and deserved so much better. Better than Potter. Better than her. She was selfish, though. She wasn't going to give up her only friend just because she thought he'd be better off without her.

###

There was all this talk about Potter saving the day, but Grace wasn't paying attention. She saw Colin coming into the Great Hall and everything else melted away. She sprinted to meet him, knocking a very, bushy haired girl out of the way and his face broke out into a huge grin.

**Second Year**

It was a crisp winter morning. Three days before the official end of Christmas break. Colin had come back early for Grace. She hadn't said why she wasn't going back to spend it with her family. But, there had been something in the way she'd flinched when he'd asked her about it that had made him worry. His father had given him a new camera for Christmas, a Polaroid. So, the pair were walking about in the courtyard taking pictures and talking.

"I'm going to go get another piece of toast before breakfast ends. You want anything?" she asked as she headed back over the doors.

"I'm good, thanks."

"Be back in a minute then."

"Try not to get lost," he called after her grinning.

"Jerk," she shot back with a mock glare.

Colin stuck out his tongue

"Oh! Real mature?" she shouted as she stormed off around the corner.

Grace was gone for a minute, maybe two. But, as Grace learned early in life, things could go to hell in a matter of seconds. Even before she re-entered the courtyard, she knew something was wrong. She could hear muffled voices and they didn't sound particularly happy. As she entered the courtyard she saw it. The lone Slytherin levitating Colin's new camera into the air, as Colin jumped for it fruitlessly.

"Hey!" Grace shouted. The kid jumped for fear of being caught by a teacher, and then caught sight of Grace, relaxing instantly. Colin shot her a quick glance revealing angry looking on his face.

"Is that your girlfriend, filth? Is she going to rescue you?"

"Give him back the camera," Grace said forcefully, as she came up to Colin's side.

"Make me," he snorted, sending it still higher into the air. Colin made another desperate grab for the camera and missed. He tripped and wheeled forward using the Slytherin to catch himself. Colin was shoved back, onto the ground. "Don't touch me scum."

"Leave him alone!" Grace growled helping Colin to his feet.

"Defending the nasty little mud-blood, are we?" he sneered.

"Don't you dare call him that," she hissed pulling out her wand. He laughed again.

"Mud-blood."

Wordlessly, Grace handed her wand to Colin and then leapt forward . It only managed to work because Grace had the element of surprise, he had never been in a fight that didn't involve wands, and she was running off pure fury. It ended with her, bruised cheeked, eye swollen shut and split lipped, sitting on top of him, slamming her small bony fists into his face.

"Don't!" punch "You!" punch "Ever!" punch "Call!" punch "Him!" punch "That!" punch "Again!" she yelled.

**A Brief Interlude From Professor McGonagall**

"Professor? I think you better come see this," a Hufflepuff said timidly as Minerva strode past.

"What is it? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"A fight..." he replied, but his voice wavered like he wasn't quite sure.

"Brilliant," McGonagall muttered, heading into the courtyard. She did not find what she had expected. Instead of some pathetic attempt at a duel, she found a girl sitting atop a boy, shaking violently, as she delivered another blow. A little to the left of the scene stood the Creevey boy looking rather shocked, clutching a camera. It was an image she saved in her mind for dark times. She walked forward quickly as the girl drew back her fist again.

"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded trying to sound stern. The girl looked up at her, fire burning in the back of her eyes, lip bleeding.

"He...insulted...my...friend," she said her voice shaking with her body. And that was when Minerva decided she liked Grace Vale.

"What are we supposed to do, Pomona?" McGonagall asked quietly, looking through the glass at the girl sitting on one of the desks, still bloody, swinging her legs back and forth.

"It is rather unusual," she agreed also following the other woman's gaze. "I mean it's not exactly like he attacked her first, it wasn't self-defense."

"I know, but..." the professor trailed off.

"But..."

"We can't abide this sort of behavior. She must learn to control her temper," McGonagall said unwillingly, shaking her head. The idea of a Second Year Hufflepuff beating a Fifth Year Slytherin into the ground was unthinkable

A dark figure came sweeping up the hall. Snape strode up to the two women, his shoulders tense.

"Where are the students that attacked my pupil?" he asked stiffly. Minerva tried to suppress a grin as she pointed to the girl waiting in the other room. She watch him stant there, face twitching ever so slightly.

"Is that it?"

"Yes."

"Pathetic. The boy looks like he was trampled by a herd of centaurs. Absolutely pathetic. One of yours no doubt?" he spat at McGonagall. She gave a couple of coughs and shook her head looking at Professor Sprout pointidly. Snape looked between the pair of them in incredulously. He spun on his heel, stalking back down the hall and muttering darkly. McGonagall allowed herself a small smile.

"Is she done yet, we'll have dinner it just a few minutes?" Colin asked nervously as the professors came back out of the classroom.

"Yes, she's finished. Would you mind escorting her to the Hospital Wing to get cleaned up?"

"Not at all," he said happily, stepping into the doorway.

"Oh, and Mr. Creevey," McGonagall said in a softer tone.

"Yes, professor?" he asked, pausing.

"That's a good friend you've got there."

His entire face lit up in a huge grin.

"I know," he said happily, before trotting into the room.

"I swear to Merlin, if you take a picture of me I kill you," the girl grumbled sliding off the desk.

"Uh-huh, sure you will."

"You're insufferable!"

"If I'm so insufferable then why did you beat that guy up for me?" he said smugly.

"Because you're my insufferable prat, stupid." Grace grinned over her shoulder as she strode through the door. "And I'm the only one whose allowed to tease you," she said punching him on the shoulder.

"You're such a bully," he whined, quickly snapping a picture.

"Hey, what did I say about taking pictures of me!" she cried as she sprinted after Colin who was trying to make a break for it.


	4. In Which Grace Thinks Everyone is Insane

Disclaimer: my brain did not produce the Harry Potter world or its characters.

**Fourth year**

Nobody in Hufflepuff quite understood Grace, everything from her presence in the house to the way she yelled at innocent bystanders was constant source of vexation. And when the term "nobody" was used it was most certainly accurate. Not knowing Grace Vale was practically impossible.

She stuck out like a sore. The girl was the opposite of patience, and if you had a class with her you had to be on your guard or you might get hit by her wand being chucked across the room in frustration. She was explosive, little things set her off into a rage. She kept to herself most of the time, and had none of that warm, friendly nature that the Hufflepuffs prided themselves on. The only thing that they could discern about her that fitted with a traditional Hufflepuff was the fact that she was hardworking. She was generally the last one to leave the common room before bed, always practicing wand movements. Even in her sleep, people swore they heard her muttering spells. She might erupt into anger nearly a dozen times during an hour of work, and even though she would shout that she was quitting, she could always be found five minutes later, after she calmed herself down, going at it again.

Grace was a problem for the Hufflepuffs, most of them being so mild-mannered they didn't know what to do with her. They were famously patient, but when it came to Grace they started to wear a little thin. They needed to find away to accept her. Half of them were at the point of throwing her out, and inventing the process of throwing someone out of a house. Some weren't even sure if there was anything to throw her out of to begin with. She wasn't really considered part of the house, just someone who was sort of there.

It was early on a Saturday morning, most people were still asleep. The Head Boy and Girl, the prefects and a few other students met to discuss the Issue of Grace Vale. And yes, the prefect had capitalized it in the memo.

"She's a bloody menace," the Head Girl whispered angrily. "Someone needs to straighten the girl out, she set a couple of first years to tears the other day."

"Well, yes, but I saw her apologizing afterwards. She even volunteered to show them kitchens," one of the prefects muttered.

"What are we supposed to do with her? She won't talk to any of us and the only person I've ever seen her hang-out with is that Creevey kid from Gryffindor."

"Poor guy. Imagine spending all your time with her," the other prefect said and the whole group shuddered. Grace Vale could only be tolerated in very diluted doses and even then just barely.

"Okay. If we can't fix the problem, we just need to understand her better, right? An explanation?" the Head Boy asked uncertainly.

"You mean an excuse?" demanded the Head Girl.

"Sort of, I mean it's obvious the girl barely has any friends-."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Look, I'm not saying that she hasn't done anything wrong, but we are Hufflepuffs. We just need to try to understand better. I mean if there's one house that could accept her that's us."

"He has a point," a fifth year said shyly. The Head Girl shook her head silently.

"What do we know about her?"

There was a brief pause while everyone racked their brains.

"She's not good at magic, down right horrible actually. That...that must be hard," the Head Girl said grudgingly.

"She never goes home for the holidays," said a sixth year. "Family troubles?"

"I think I sometimes I hear her crying at night," a fourth year girl muttered. That came as a shock, it was hard to imagine someone like Grace crying. "And after summer holiday she has bruises, lots of them. I always assumed they were from getting into fights..."

"Has anyone actually seen her get into a fight before?"

"I saw her attack some Slytherin one time. She damn near killed him," one of the prefects offered.

"Does she have any siblings?"

There was a silence as everybody racked their brains trying to remember another Vale.

"I had a Claudia Vale in a class a couple years back, she was a Gryffindor, I think? I never would have connected them. But, I haven't seen her in a while," the Head Girl frowned.

"You... You guys didn't here about that?" Everyone turned to see a sleepy figure unraveling from a curled up position on one of the couches.

"Emily?"

"Hey. I fell asleep down here last night. I've been listening to you guys."

"Oh."

"Yeah. But, Claudia Vale, she was killed in a werewolf attack a couple years ago. There was bit on in the Prophet."

"Seriously? That's awful!"

"Jeez, why didn't she ever say anything?"

There was another period of silence where everyone in the circle shuffled uncomfortably and played with the hem of their pajamas. Finally, the fourth year girl from before lifted her head up and said very quietly, face blushing red.

"She's the badger."

"What?"

"We're supposed to be badgers. A badger once chased my sister into a lake."

"Megan!" the Head Girl hissed. "You said you wouldn't say anything about that?"

"A badger," the Head Boy said speculatively after the laughter had died down.

"Makes sense to me," one of the prefects said a smile tugging at his lips. Everybody nodded in agreement. And Grace Vale came stumping down the stairs, wrapping a scarf around her neck.

The group tried furiously to separate, to look like anything but a Secret Meeting. They didn't do a very good job of it. She frowned over at them with tired eyes, still crusted with sleep.

"You're up early," the Head Boy said in a friendly tone. Her expression didn't change.

"Colin always insists, the annoying little prat," she grumbled.

"Er, right. Have a good morning," a prefect said nervously.

"You, bloody too," she growled throwing open the door. She paused for a second looking back at them with an odd expression. "You are the largest bunch of gossips I know. But, thanks, for...trying and stuff. Y'know, for...caring and all that rubbish," she said awkwardly, her gaze directed at the floor. "I'll try to, to be nicer and stuff."

The group blinked at her slowly, wondering if she'd been jinxed. Emily, the girl on the couch, snored.

"Just," Grace began, focusing her attention on the assortment of would be conspirators. "Don't ever talk about me like that again!" she growled before forcefully slamming the door behind her.

###

"Did you get it?" he asked eagerly, turning to see an exhausted Grace glaring at him from the top of the stairs.

"What do you think?" she asked sarcastically, trying to adjust the heavy bundle of packages in her arms. "They practically threw the food at me, and they added a huge pitcher of pumpkin juice! And, Merlin, it's cold." Grace's teeth chattered over the last to words in agreement.

"Be there in a sec," Colin said while he fumbled with the twine around an owl's leg.

It was six AM, on a Saturday morning, in December. Colin, Grace had long ago decided was definitely bonkers. He always insisted that they get here this early, because there was only ever one owl that would carry his ridiculously heavy envelope of photos to his parents every week. Grace had gone down to the kitchens just to grab a couple mugs of hot chocolate and the house elves had given her a veritable picnic. She'd had to use her cloak to help manage it all. Grace had to admit that one of the good things about being a Hufflepuff was knowing their closely guarded secret of the kitchens. It hadn't been that hard for the first Hufflepuff to find them. What with them being so close and all. The knowledge of an unlimited supply of food whenever you wanted it quickly became the house secret, passed on to the new first years every year. If the Hufflepuffs had a bit more healthy padding than the rest of the school, nobody noticed. Grace, of course, had broken that sacred oath of Hufflepuff solidarity when it had come to Colin.

He hurried over quickly and took roughly half the load.

"I thought we could do it on the roof," he said, gesturing toward the balcony.

"Are you insane? It's below freezing out there!"

"Stop worrying. And, yes. I am insane, so there," he called to her, clambering up on to the roof, the snow falling down in his wake.

"Ugh," Grace moaned stepping out on to the balcony. After much huffing and swearing she finally managed to navigate her way onto the gently sloping roof. She turned around and looked down at the neat pile of food she'd left behind. Sucking in a deep breath and concentrating as hard as she could Grace waved her wand.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

In response to this, one of the packages shot off into the air and disappeared over the other side of the roof. A few of the larger parcels shuddered and lifted slightly off the ground before setting back down. One mug did lift into the air, wobbling into position beside her wand tip. "You have got to be kidding me," she groaned glaring at the packages. "I did it perfectly last night."

"I keep telling you, it's all about attitude," Colin said gently coming back over and summoning the packages easily.

"Everyone makes it look like it's nothing," Grace complained as they shuffled further up the roof.

"That's cause it is, Badge. Magic is apart of you, you just have to accept it."

"But, I do, and stop calling me Badge. It lost its charm after we turned thirteen," Grace replied in frustration.

"Just keep practicing. I know you'll get it someday. You're really smart," he replied earnestly. Grace gave him an odd look as she offered him half of the cloak.

"I really don't deserve you, do I?" she mumbled.

"Hm? Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing. Just thanks is all."

"What are friends for? Shall we see what we've got?" Colin asked, already reaching for a package.

Grace couldn't help but gape in amazement as Collin laid out the food. There was a large tin of biscuits, two large pasties, half a dozen éclairs, a big batch of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, a tightly sealed pot of hot chocolate and, of course, the pumpkin juice.

"They're mad," Grace whispered. "Who eats éclairs at six in the morning, and why on earth would anyone want pumpkin juice in this weather?"

"You think everyone's crazy," Colin grinned and snapped a picture of Grace glaring at him.

"That's because they are," she replied huffily.

"Grace Vale: the only sane person left in the world," he said waving the angry picture at her.

"Shut up, and drink your coco," she growled, shoving the pot at him.

"You know," Colin said after a few minutes of silence, mouth full of éclair. "This isn't half bad."

"True, but my coco won't cool off."

Colin rolled his eyes, grabbed the pitcher of pumpkin juice and tipped it over her hot chocolate. Grace froze, mouth open, staring at her hot chocolate in shock.

"You defiled my coco. I can't believe you just-." She stared up at him. "That's like the equivalent of a shut the hell up from you!"

"Go on," Colin said eagerly. "Try it!"

Grace eyed the mug wearily and took a hesitant sip.

"Well? How is it?" he demanded.

"It's good," she admitted grudgingly. "But, that doesn't mean that I like it."

"Suuure," he replied knowingly, adding pumpkin juice to his hot chocolate as well.

The pair sat up there for the majority of breakfast sipping the strange new drink and occasionally chucking a snow ball at the unsuspecting passerby. Colin of was forever clicking away on his camera.

"I don't want to go to class," Colin moaned, after finishing off the last of the scrambled eggs.

"Me neither," Grace agreed as she watched the owls circle high above them. "Don't you ever wish you could fly?" she muttered.

"I think everybody does," Colin said following her gaze and tilting his camera towards the sky.

"Yeah, but those people can play Quidditch, or have enough money for their own broom. I don't understand why they won't lend the school brooms to us, just for normal flying. It's stupid. A couple lessons first year isn't enough." She turned eyes away from the sky to look at Colin who had the oddest look on his face. She'd known him long enough now to understand that stupid little half glint in his eyes.

"No! Absolutely not!"

"We'll do it tonight! It'll be brilliant," Colin said excitedly, sliding off the roof. "I'll meet you after dinner!" he called over his shoulder, leaving her alone on the roof before she could protest.

"Colin!" she cried indignantly after him.

0o0o0

Her reasoning was simple. If she didn't go with Colin, something horrible would happen to him. It's not exactly as if he had a good track record with this sort of thing. Quite the opposite actually. Even if she didn't show up, it was guaranteed that he'd go anyway and that would be on her conscience. So, maybe a tiny part of her wanted to break into the broom shed and steal a broom. But, that was the silly part that ate éclairs at six in the morning and had acquired a taste for pumpkin juice and hot chocolate.


	5. Being Broken

**AN: I never did quite like the flow of this chapter, and I still struggled with it, hopefully, though it is somewhat better. Updates are continuing. Thank you all for being amazing.**

**Third Year**

**A Brief Memory From Dennis**

"Where's Colin?" Dennis asked sleepily, sliding in next to his older brothers friends at the Gryffindor table.

"Over t'ere," Billy said around his toast, jerking a thumb at the Hufflepuff table, where Colin was talking to a girl with dark hair, waving his hands about animatedly.

"I don't know why he hangs around with her all the time," Alex said glaring over at the pair. "She nearly bit my head-off in charms the other day. Meanest Hufflepuff I ever met,"

"Maybe he's got a bit of a crush," n'Billy said with a sly grin.

"What on her? Merlin, no! What's to like about her,"

"What are you two going on about now?" Kathy said sitting down beside them.

"Colin and that Hufflepuff girl," Alex said rolling his eyes.

"Oh, is he seriously over there again?" she demanded craning her neck to get a better look. "I honesty don't get why he's always spending so much time with her. 'She's just awful. Colin is so happy and up-beat all the time, how can he stand it?"

"I know right! One time I heard..."

Dennis frowned at the group as they continued on with they're discussion. He looked back over at the Hufflepuff table where Grace was smiling at Colin as he acted something out for her. He scooted a little bit farther away from them. He didn't understand how they could be his brothers friends and yet know so little about him.

Second Year

The last day of Christmas Break was here. Grace had stayed in bed for most of breakfast; she did not want that holiday to end. The next day her sister would be back and she'd have to apologize for all the horrible things she'd said.

They were true, Grace was still convinced of that, but it's not like her sister had deserved them. She was simply the golden child, their parents thought that Claudia was perfect and she practically was. Always so bright, beautiful and kind. Grace was the stupid one, the squib, and the less than average one who deserved nothing.

Claudia had tried convincing Grace to come back home for the holidays (like that was going to happen.) It meant more screaming, and pain than Grace could bear. If she had a choice, then she was staying. Claudia had just gone on and on about the vacation, claiming about how it would be fun to go up in the mountains and explore, until Grace had snapped. It hadn't been pretty, the entire Great Hall was staring when she threw her porridge at her sister and screamed that she was... Well, Grace didn't want to remember those words, not again. Then she'd gone down to the Hufflepuff Common Room and trashed it in, what can only be called, a tantrum. Needless to say she got a months worth of detentions and lost Hufflepuff house seventy points.

She didn't know. Merlin, she didn't know. She still didn't know when the door to the dorm creaked open and the figure of Professor Sprout appeared over Grace.

"Will you come with me to the Headmaster's Office, dear?"

There was a quake in the woman's voice and a tell in the wetness of her eyes. Grace was confused, and they were talking to a gargoyle about candy. Up a spiral staircase and the door swinging open for them. Grace peered inside cautiously. There was Professor Sprout at Grace's side, Madam Pomfrey, the Headmaster and a silence.

Dead.

Claudia was dead and Grace was running. Running from the calls of the Professors', running somewhere, anywhere but there. She came flying into the Great Hall and crashed into a surly looking fifth year.

"Watch it!" he growled after Grace as she scramble for the doors.

Colin was suddenly in front on her.

"Grace? Grace what's wrong?" Colin asked anxiously.

"Leave me alone Colin," she growled trying to get around him.

"Grace, but-"

"I said leave me alone!" she yelled shoving him hard in the chest so that he fell to the ground. And Grace was running, running through the doors and past the icy, suffocating grip of the Dementors. Through the grounds and straight into the forbidden forest. Tripping over tree roots, snagging her robes on branches and running. She didn't stop till collided with a tree. It hurt. Merlin, it hurt.

She sat down in the roots, back up against the tree, and she sobbed. She screamed and cursed and beat her knuckles bloody on the tree bark. She's not sure how long she was there, before there was a rustling of leaves and a voice.

"Why are you crying?"

She jumped violently, and her red eyes worked around the clearing.

"Go away!" she said hoarsely, curling up in a tight ball. There was the crunching of leaves. The footfalls stopped in front of her.

A few minutes passed and very carefully Grace turned her head to look up at the intruder. There was a centaur there, head slightly cocked looking down at her.

"There are many dangerous things in this forest, you should not be here," he said patiently.

"Go tell it to someone who cares," she croaked.

"There is no one else to tell, just you," the centaur said simply frowning at her.

"Shut up and leave me alone,"

"Why were you crying?" he asked again.

"Are you stupid? I said leave me alone!"

"Ah, you have experienced a great loss." The centaur's eyes were steady and solemn, barring there way into her soul.

Grace glared at him, and the sadness over took her again. The centaur knelt beside her as she cried. She talked and he listened. He led her out of the forest where Hagrid was waiting for them.

"Thanks, Firenze," he said gruffly, smiling warmly.

"Always a pleasure Hagrid. Until we meet again," he called over his shoulder disappearing back into the trees.

Grace looked every where but at the giant of a man in front of her.

"Want some tea?" It was a simple question, and coming out of his mouth it sounded like a normal one.

Grace accepted. She drank from a bowl-sized teacup as Hagrid bustled around his hut; stoking the fire and cleaning. He didn't ask her any questions or make any concerned remarks. He was just there, and it was easier. After her tea was finished he took her out back to see a hippogriff named Buckbeak. She bowed, Buckbeak bowed and he allowed her to run her hand over his soft feathers. Hagrid took Grace back to the castle; none of the teachers would let her apologize. She went home for a week for her sister. She tried to apologize to Colin. He told her things were going to be all right. Grace said she believed him. Grace lied.

Grace cried at night after that. Quiet sobs into her pillow as she took off the mask and became a beaten twelve year-old girl.

**A/N: Okay. Grace needs some fun. Next chapter won't be so depressing.**


	6. Brooms and Temper Tantrums

Fourth Year

AN: Bit of a recap.

Her reasoning was simple. If she didn't go with Colin, something horrible would happen to him. It's not exactly as if he's got a good track record with this sort of thing. Quite the opposite actually. And even if she didn't show up, it was guaranteed that he'd go anyway and then that would be on her conscience. So maybe a tiny part of her wanted to break into the broom shed and steal a broom. But that was the silly part that ate éclairs at six in the morning and had now acquired a taste for pumpkin juice and hot chocolate.

Grace padded up the stairs silently. This was going to end badly, she just knew it. She glanced around carefully looking for teachers or Merlin forbid Mrs. Norris. Cats did not like Grace, and Grace didn't like them either.

"Badge!" Colin called excitedly, his head poking out of a broom cupboard down the hall.

"Shut up! You'll wake the whole bloody castle!" Grace whisper yelled.

"C'mon! Let's go!"

There was something fantastic about it. Both friends slipped out the front door. Hands clasped they ran across the ground. Two silhouetted figures, laughing and whispering. Grace could feel it. It was one of those moments that you tucked away and held close.

"Alohomora...Damn,"

"Let me try,"

"I can do it! Alohomora. Alohomora! Oh bugger all, you try then,"

"Alohomora," Click.

Swearing.

"Grace!"

"Sorry,"

"Well go on pick one,"

Several minutes later.

Grace was giddy with it. The broom, old as it was, flew like a bloody dream. The air rolled around her, her hair held back by the wind. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep. For a few minutes everything was right with the world. Colin was laughing. Hanging on to her shoulders and laughing. The air was biting, and cold; and it was wonderful. Grace didn't cry that night. It was a perfect memory. Untainted, easy and fantastic. Grace had few of those. It shone in her head like a little beacon in a sea of black. Grace was happy

Fifth Year

The wand swished through the air, the words were clear and confident. There was a spark, a glow and then one of those sad, disappointing little fizzles that Grace had become so familiar with.

"That's it!" Grace said chucking her wand at a nearby tree, cheeks red with anger. "It's official, I'm a frigging squib, case closed!"

"C'mon, Grace your too hard on yourself," Colin said anxiously running to retrieve the wand. "Just give it another try,"

"No, I'm done with trying! I can't stand being here, everyone waving their wands about and those sad, sympathetic, stupid little smiles on the teachers' faces. I can't do a bleeding thing. I should just go to the old coot and have him expel me!" she said furiously.

"Jesus, Grace just calm down! One: Dumbledore is not a coot. Two: You're brilliant at potions, so you are good at something. And three: You're not a squib. You can do magic, when you're not beating yourself up about it," he told her firmly, shoving the wand back into her hand. "Now do it again,"

She glared at him for a few seconds and gave huffy sigh and then focused her attention on the tip of the wand.

"Lumos!" there was a clicking sound and a blinding flash of light. A small thrill went through Grace as she blinked the spots of lights from her eyes. She had done it! She had actually done-. "Colin!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Colin said hurriedly, putting down the camera. "I thought I had that turned off,"

"You know for a second there I really thought I'd done it," she said quietly. Her eyes pricked and she turned around quickly ."I'm going to go back up to the castle. See you at dinner," she said quickly, picking up her bag of books and then hurrying away.

"Grace, wait!" Colin shouted after her. But Grace didn't look back and Colin was left a lone, holding the picture of Grace with her wand tip glowing faintly in the fading evening light.

Something Grace never told Colin was that she actually did go to Dumbledore's office and ask to be expelled that night.

It was a mistake really, she'd gotten lost again. Another reason she hated the stupid castle, why she wanted to leave. She slumped over dejectedly, leaning up against a Gargoyle. She'd be late for dinner again, maybe miss it altogether. It wasn't the food that bugged her; it was missing out on time with Colin. She wanted to apologize, he was always so nice and she was always a jerk. She frowned up at the stonewalls trying to get her bearings. The corridor looked just as unfamiliar as the rest. There was a painting a little ways down the hall that kept looking at her in a concerned manner. There was no way she was taking directions from a painting. Grumbling angrily she rummaged in her bag for some food. She knew she had a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans in there somewhere. She found an empty bag, and her books covered in slightly squished beans.

"Stupid beans," she growled ripping her books out. "What the hell kind of a name is that anyways: Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans? What blithering idiot came up with-," Grace stopped talking because the gargoyle was moving out of her way, revealing a flight of stairs. The Headmaster's office. Grace almost remembered. But caught herself, she didn't think about that anymore. Hoisting her bag over shoulder, she marched slowly up the stairs. She opened the door.

"I will assume that you have knocked and you will assume that I have said enter," the Headmaster said from his desk eyeing her over his half moon glasses, eyes twinkling. "What can I do for you Miss Vale?"

"I want to be expelled," she said through gritted teeth. If she was here, she might as well.

"Ah. And why, may I ask, is that?"

"Why? Why! Do I have to spell it out for you? I am a FAILURE! A squib. WORTHLESS! I can't stand it! Being here! So do it! Please!"

"No,"

"NO!" she shrieked and up turned a table of delicate looking objects.

"Would you be surprised to know that you are not the first student to do that," he said calmly, smiling slightly.

One of those delicate objects flew through the air to crash on the wall a little left of his head. He sat there unflinchingly, completely relaxed.

"Do you know, the objects on the table to your left are much more valuable. Also when they smash they explode,"

"I hate you! This is Hell for me! Every bloody day! And you just sit there and mock me! Do you know how it feels? No, of course not. Mr. Perfect Headmaster. Order of Merlin First Class. Genius. The spells practically cue up for you don't they!"

"I assure you they don't. And trust me when I say that I am not a perfect man," he said dragging his charred shriveled hand into view.

Grace started. She frowned at it. That was the sort of thing spells were supposed to fix, wasn't it? Just went to show how useless they were.

"There might be a potion," she said quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth.

"I wondered when we'd get to that," he beamed. Grace opened her mouth to argue, but Dumbledore cut her off.

"No need to be modest dear. I believe I have heard from Professors Snape and Slughorn that you are an exemplary and quite exceptional potions student,"

"Yeah, but that's not magic, is it? It's easy, simplest thing in the world. Any muggle could do it,"

"Grace," sighed the headmaster placing both hands on the desk. "You know that's not true. People often put potions in the same line as cooking. But we both know it's so much more than that. If a muggle tried any of those recipes they'd end up with nothing. The magic doesn't come from the ingredients. It comes from the wizard or witch. The power too. The potency and strength of ones brew is specifically related to the witch or wizard who is making it. You are not weak Grace. Your strength rises in your potions. Hogwarts School has seen many talented students over the years, and you rank quite highly among them,"

"You're lying," flat and hard. Grabbing her bag from the floor, she turned and headed for the door.

"You are strong," he replied softly. She kicked over a table and let the door slam heavily behind her.

After leaving the headmaster's office she stormed angrily down one hall and then another. She was still lost. She got into a hotheaded fight with a bloody painting of a knight and threw a book at him.

It was so simple all she had to do was go down stairs! But where, in Merlin's bloody name, were the stairs!

She eventually gave up. Plopped down in a deserted corridor and stared at a funny tapestry.

Realization dawned. She knew this place. The DA meetings Colin had dragged her to countless times last year. The Room of Requirement.

She paced back and forth next to the tapestry. I need the Hufflepuff common room, I need the Hufflepuff common room, I need the Hufflepuff common room. A door appeared on the wall and she threw it open. There was a hallway and at the other end, a door. Merlin, why didn't she get lost around here more often?


	7. Believing The Best

BEGINNING OF FIFTH YEAR

AN: I actually wrote this quite a while ago. In the beginning of this idea of Grace. I changed somethings and worked on the writing.

"O.W.L.S. Owls. Do you think they did that on purpose?"

Grace was trying and failing to concentrate. Transfiguration was her worst subject. Always has been always would be. It certainly didn't help that there was some idiot behind her.

"And what about N.E.W.T s. Newts? That's just strange,"

There was a vein somewhere. It was pulsing. Knuckles were white and a back was stiff. All the telltale signs of an explosion were there. This was the time to act. Throw the bucket of water. Grace gritted her teeth and let the air hiss out.

"What's with that girl in front of us,"

"That's Vale,"

"The crazy one?"

"Yeah. She's a complete bi-,"

"Shut up!"

That's Grace. The class is frozen.

"Get some effing brains!"

"Miss Vale!"

That's McGonagall. That's detention knocking.

The boy behind her smirks.

Grace does what Grace does when she can't stand it anymore.

"What is wrong with you!"

Grace closed her eyes. Her head fell back against the stone wall. She pressed her lips together and held the pain down.

"You are suspended till further notice."

"I'm sorry."

"Grace you need to ask for help. Please try,"

Grace freezes. Colin's eyes are averted. His face is pulled in on itself.

The train ride back to London was hell. Her mother's furious expression was foreshadowing.

The stench of alcohol clogging the air when she stepped out of the fireplace was a promise.

Grace took it quietly.

After she dragged her trunk into her room and lifted out the textbooks with bruised fingers.

A week passed.

A letter arrived.

It was a miracle; how fast her mother cleaned the house, freshened the air and removed red from Grace's father's eyes.

She grabbed Grace roughly by the arm, and muttered a quick spell that made the bruises disappear. Then, the same unspoken warning.

It was Professor McGonagall who came. Her eyes were sharp, and she could feel the constructed air of the cleanliness.

Grace didn't look right. She was clean, her clothes were clean, and her face was relaxed.

And yet, there was something wrong. Minerva had guessed enough from her five years with Grace that her parents were hard on her. That was what it was. They were just strict.

It's so easy to ignore warning signs. You don't want to see it. Don't want to believe it. So you don't.

There was a war. Voldemort was murdering people left and right. There couldn't be something so domestic. In times like that you want to believe in people.

So Professor McGonagall shook the feeling off and got down to business.

Counseling.

Three days later Grace was back at Hogwarts.

Filch was waiting for her.

She entered charms late.

The class stared, the space filled with whispers.

Grace kept her head down.

At lunch she sat at the very edge of the Hufflepuff table. A distinct gap separated her from the rest of the Hufflepuffs.

"Grace!"

It was almost funny how fast her head shot up.

"There you are I've been looking all over. You won't believe what happened in Care of Magical Creatures,"

There was no Welcome back. No questions. It was like she'd never been gone. About half way through his reenactment Grace got up and hugged him.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you,"

"What are friends for,"

It took a while. Nearly two months before people stopped eyeing her nervously and whispering. The teachers stopped watching every move she made. The Hufflepuffs were a different story.

They didn't stop throwing her dirty looks or moving away when she got to close. They only started forgiving her when sixth year rolled around and Hogwarts became hell.


	8. A Few Snippets

AN: Quick update because I realized I hadn't done so in awhile. If anyone is still reading that is. Anyways, the end is near. I will try to update more frequently. And as always, (even though I've never said this before) thank you for reading this.

SIXTH YEAR

There weren't too many people in the room at that point. It was the very beginning. Grace was collapsed on one of the hammocks her entire body burning. The new DADA teacher didn't care for Grace's attitude apparently. Colin was standing over her muttering a healing spell.

"You really shouldn't have done that,"

"Oh shove off. I am who I bloody am. I won't listen to them talk like that. I'd do the same thing over except this time I'd make sure to break his effing nose!"

Colin sighed wearily as the wounds softened slightly. The fire weakened inside and Grace relaxed.

"I'm just worried about you. You'll get yourself killed,"

"I will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will TOO!"

"WILL NOT!"

"Shut up!" a boy leaning against the wall snapped. "What are you six?"

Grace turned to him, face severe.

"You should take a picture of him," Grace said turning to Colin.

"You're right. I should, I really should."

"I'll make a nice sign for it. Something like "Warning

Snarky Ass Ahead","

"Grace!"

"It was a joke!"

"Right,"

"Just take the bloody picture,"

Click.

FIRST YEAR

Professor McGonagall looked at the clock and then at the two empty desks in the front of her class. Someone should really get the poor things a map. It's not like they deserved the detentions she had to give them for being late. As far as she was concerned they were both cursed with a bad sense of direction and short-term memory. But it wasn't exactly like she could give them a free pass, then everybody would be demanding one to. Sighing she reached for her quill, when the door flew open and in came the Creevey boy grinning happily dragging the Vale girl with him.

The bell rang.

"See I told you we'd get the right one eventually," he said over his shoulder to the girl, and then turning to face her. "You were right Professor! Leaving lunch early helped, we're not late!" he said excitedly snapping a quick picture of the clock.

"Yes. Please take your seats, so we may begin with the lesson,"

They both hurried over to their chairs, and she turned around to the blackboard, enchanting the chalk to write out the day's lesson. Minerva McGonagall always took an interest her students. She may come across as stern and strict but deep down she had a soft spot for them all. Except for a few of the Slytherins. Okay, all of them.

She had liked Colin the instant she'd seen him shouting in the corridors about a girl dying by a statue. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. Minerva couldn't help herself. Colin was over-eager, and often talked much too loudly in class. His homework was haphazard, ideas scribbled every which way, he snap pictures in the middle of class, and always wanted to talk about Harry Potter.

Minerva never liked to admit it. But she'd seen so much darkness walk through those halls, seen so many talented students lose themselves in. Colin, the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and a handful of others drove out the shadows for a few shinning seconds.

As much as she scolded, snapped, ranted and warned she could never stop depending on them to defy her; purposefully or unintentionally.

Reviews much appreciated.


	9. The End and Times of Grace

AN: So this is it. Time to say goodbye. Grace and Colin. I'm going to miss them so much. I loved Colin. I met Grace. I stuck them together and I'm very happy with how this story turned out as a whole. Thank you for all the lovely comments. They meant so much to me.

Disclaimer: J.K. found Colin, and I found Grace.

**SIXTH YEAR**

"Colin?" she demanded in frustration. He was supposed to be gone. "What on earth are you doing?" Grace hissed pulling him to the side as a mass of frightened people swarmed past.

"I'm staying. What do you think? I want to help," he said adamantly, frowning at Grace. And Grace was suddenly filled with panic, because he had to go. There was too much risk, he could die, and she was not about to let that happen.

"When are you going to grow up?" she said it quiet, and hard. "You can't always run around playing the hero. You're not him, Colin! It's time to stop pretending."

The expression on Colin's face was hurt, it was more hurt than she'd ever seen it before. She gritted her teeth against the feelings of regret. Colin had to go.

Then his face changed; at first Grace didn't quite understand what it was, that expression was so unnatural for him.

"And what are you doing?" he asked quietly. Grace faltered..

"Well I'm-," she cut off.

"You're bloody staying, right? And you can barely get your spells right half the time," he roared furiously. Grace took a few steps back in shock, Colin didn't yell like that. "In case you haven't noticed I'm not a kid anymore. This isn't some silly fantasy from a twelve year-old. This is me, fighting for what I believe in! This is my decision, I'm only four months from being seventeen, and I'll be damned if I let you stop me!" he said furiously and pushed his way into the crowd. Grace stood there in stunned silence trying to remember what was going on.

All she had wanted to do was make him go, she couldn't bare it if he died. That would mean everything good in the world would die too. That's what Colin was, he was everything good. He was innocence, kindness, spirit, heart and compassion. Maybe some of that had blinded her to the fact that Colin wasn't a little kid anymore. He was a good five inches taller than her now, he knew more spells and could do them better than her.

But he would still talked about Potter, he still looked up to him. He could recite to you every act of glory and bravery the guy had done and then still tell you more. Colin was always enthusiastic, he'd always been the little guy and Harry Potter was his hero.

Sometimes Grace had wondered if Colin ever saw him as a real person. He'd always used to say that when he grew up he wanted to be just like Harry. And how many times had Grace reminded him that he was only a year younger than Harry, and that he was fine just the way he was? He was better than Harry, in so many ways and he just couldn't see it.

Grace could. Because Grace loved him, she loved everything about Colin, but not in a romantic way. Grace didn't have much of a concept of romance to begin with. She was determined to protect him, mostly because he needed it when he was that small, weedy kid and, mostly because Colin was everything Grace couldn't be. Everything she saw as perfect, and she wasn't going to let anyone destroy him. And now she'd gone and done that herself.

She spent the majority of the battle trying to find him, running around distraught and panicked nearly getting herself killed on more that several occasions. Then she found him out on the grass dueling with a nameless deatheater. She fumbled for her wand edging closer to the wizard he was dueling. She raised the wand, her mouth opened and then she snorted. Probably only make things worse, she chucked it to the side and then jumped the deatheater from behind. She should probably have trade marked that or something. In the event that you are absolute rubbish at magic, and your favorite geek is being attacked, when in doubt tackle their attacker. Of course this deatheater was a lot smarter and larger than your average fifteen year-old and he still had his wand. It ended with him pinning her to the ground wand pressed up against her throat.

"Avada-"

"STUPIFY!" Colin bellowed and the deatheater collapsed on top of her. Colin quickly rolled him off, and bent over Grace.

He opened his mouth and there was an explosion of red light. Colin hit the ground.

"Colin!"

Hands grabbing at his tattered robes and screaming. The battle melted away around her, all that was left were her and Colin and a growing pool of blood.

"Hey Badge," he said weakly smiling up at her crazily. "Anyone get a picture of that?"

He coughed and blood trickled out the corner of his mouth. She glanced down at the gaping wound in his stomach. That should have been her, she was supposed to protect him. Her hands shook as she scrambled for her wand. Why had she thrown it away? She should've had it. But she didn't and Colin was dying.

"Help!" she screamed. It was useless, everything was chaos. "I'm sorry."

The tears streaked down her cheeks. He gave her another one of those mad smiles.

"It's 'kay," he whispered hoarsely. "You think I was any help? Made a difference?" he asked quietly.

"I-." He should have gone, left the school. He'd only gotten himself killed. He could have made so much more difference if he had just gone. The world needed people like Colin. "Yeah," she choked out.

"Don't let him win, okay?"

She nodded and he smiled up at her contentedly. His eyes sagged, all the tension going out of his body.

"Please..." Grace whispered leaning in over his face, but he was gone. That energetic spark that filled his eyes was gone, everything that was right with the world was gone, Colin was gone. Somehow, Grace found the wand. Why hadn't she been able to find it when he needed it? She staggered to her feet, fury building.

"Don't let him win, okay?"

Nothing matters anymore except for that, a small voice in her brain whispered and then she had screamed. A high-pitched, scream that was all most inhuman and her wand had cut through the air, her brain going into auto-pilot and every spell she had ever tired to learn, spent hours practicing late at night, came shrieking out of her in one swoop of grief ridden fury. She doesn't remember how many fell, or if any actually fell at all before some curse or spell hit her in the back and she fell into blackness. But none of that mattered because Colin was dead. She's not sure how long went by before she remembers waking up in the great hall, a girl leaning over whispering words of comfort and trying to quiet the senseless sobbing.

I should be dead, she thought as she clutched Colin's cold hand. I should have died. Dead, I should be dead. Take me, bring him back! Bring him back! Bring him back! The words played over and over again her mind.

When Voldemort called them out claiming that the boy who lived was dead she didn't move. Nothing mattered anymore. The battle hand been lost when Colin had, had... When the fighting broke out again she didn't even flinch. She hoped she'd die. When it was over and Harry Potter had come back from the dead and killed Voldemort, she didn't move.

Nothing mattered.

Finally after what seemed like hours a hand fell on her shoulder. She didn't look up.

"Grace?" The words are tentative and quiet, so familiar. She looks up and there's Dennis standing next to her staring down at his brother like the world has just ended. Finally, Grace has someone who understands, someone who loved him just as much as she did. She opens her mouth to say something but she can't take it, he's always looked so much like Colin. She breaks down sobbing again and they both sit there crying clutching each other and the world melts away again.

No one disturbs them and Grace is grateful for that. But she can't help but think there should be more people here, more people mourning Colin Creevey. He was so wonderful, so friendly. There should be hoards of people cluttered around him, acknowledging just how spectacular he was. She knows that other people died too, she understands. But that little dark part of her mind screams that Colin was the only one who mattered. She falls asleep still clutching his hand.

When she wakes up the Great Hall is deserted, the survivors and dead have been cleared out and all that is left is her Dennis and Colin. Someone has been here recently she thinks. There are two steaming cups of tea and a plate of sandwiches. Carefully she picks up one of the mugs and stares at it blankly. The silence fills the hall, she can hear muffled voices swirling in from outside, they mean nothing to her. Wind blows through one of the many broken windows and throws her hair into her face. Colin's hair moves too, just a subtle shift and Grace snaps. She chucks the mug of tea at the wall. It bounces off the wall, instead of shattering. It lands beside her again, all the tea still intact.

She is taken back to that time, when Colin charmed all the books she was using to study for the OWLS, to do just that and she can't help but laugh.

It cuts off almost immediately, her hand clapped to her mouth. How could she do something like that. Colin is, he is...

She thinks she slams her head into the floor over and over again until she blacks out. She thinks she may have broken a few noses in a blurry fog, when they tried to pull her away from him.

She thinks she's gone insane when she wake up in Saint Mungos hospital to the sight of her mother asleep in a chair by the bed. This is the last person she needs. The person who stood silent every time her father beat her in one of his drunken rages. The one who slapped her afterwards and told her to keep her mouth shut. She tries to get out of bed, but someone must have charmed it so she can't leave. She thrashes wildly. Her mother wakes up.

"Oh, Grace! We were so worried," she says anxiously, reaching out a hand. Grace jerks to a stop. We? When she see's the second chair by the bed with her father's stained and patched cloak draped over it she starts screaming. She screams till a group of worried healers comes barging into the room.

"Keep them away from me!" she screeches as they put her back under.

When she wakes up the second time, she's in a new ward and her parents are no where to be seen.

There is a small mercy. She turns over and curls up into a small ball and closes her mouth. She doesn't speak when they come in her parents are on trial. She doesn't speak when Dennis comes to see her.

Finally they tell her she can go. She leaves and then stands numb on the sidewalk with no idea of where to go. They told her something about someone coming to pick her up, didn't they?

Muggles brush past her in their meaningless rushing and she feels like crying. The tears drag across her face for the first time in weeks. Then there's a wave of blonde hair, and the smell of radishes and Luna Lovegood of all people is standing in front of her hand out stretched. Grace takes it quietly, without question.

**Years, Months, and Days of Grace**

She stays in the house for six months.

Grace doesn't understand it. Luna and her were never that close. They were friendly sure, but not the kind of "pick you up after your life falls apart" type. But the Lovegoods were wonderful, they talked to her normally. Not in the nervous, "we're worried about you" kind of way. Not even in the way that expected an answer.

Luna would take her down to the river to go fishing, or out on the hills for a picnic. Grace stays mute, and that's okay.

There's a knock at the door. Luna, who's been explaining the Crumple Horn Snorcak in great detail to Grace, gets up and answers it. Grace can here the muffled voices. She recognizes the newcomer's voice almost instantly.

Grace looks up from her porridge slowly as he comes into the room. It hits her hard, the resemblance is striking.

"You didn't come," he says shortly, a sort of pain burning in the back of his eyes. Grace shakes her head."Why?" he demands through gritted teeth, fists balling up.

Grace speaks her first words in over two months. Her voice sounds worn and hoarse.

"I didn't care."

It's cold. Her eyes are cold.

Dennis stands there for a few seconds body shaking. And then, he does something that is practically the most thought about action when dealing with Grace Vale. A punch in the stomach, hard and low that has her falling out of the chair.

For the first time Grace doesn't get to her feet, doesn't fight back. She just lies there on the smooth wood floor. There's nothing to fight for anymore.

Dennis sits down next to her. Grace never just lies down, it doesn't happen.

"There's nothing left," she says. "Nothing, not one thing. He's gone and I don't care anymore. He was the last and only thing I will ever love in this world."

Then the trembling comes, her entire body shaking as she sobs on the floor.

Yes, Grace loved...loves Colin. Loved him in the way that she wanted him to always be happy, to always be loved, and if he couldn't be happy, then there sure as Hell had better be someone to be there for him. He was her whole world, her life was measured in moments with Colin. He was the best person in the world, there wasn't anyone better.

Grace is right. She doesn't love people the way she loved Colin.

It's after the scene with Dennis that she gets a letter.

It's from a Rufus Archwright who says he's the owner of a potions shop in Diagon Alley and very close friends with Professor Slughorn.

"I am in need of a new brewer and attendant for my potions shop. I am aware that you did not complete your schooling and so finding work must be a difficult task. But you come most highly recommended by a dear friend of mine, Horace Slughorn. I value his opinion. So if you would be interested in a position please send my owl back with a reply as soon as possible."

Thank you and have a lovely day,

Rufus Archwright

Grace holds the piece of parchment in her hand staring at it blankly.

A job? Grace hasn't even thought about work. It's obvious that she can't stay with the Lovegood's forever and there's no way she's going back to Hogwarts, to many memories.

Luna helps her get ready for the interview. It's the first time Grace feels truly clean in months.

"Try to smile, and wear this," Luna says thrusting a braided necklace at her. Grace has lived with her long enough to know what it is.

"Why do I need to be protected from Nargles?"

"Diagon Alley has a major infestation," Luna states matter-of-factly.

"Right."

The interview goes down hill. Grace snaps.

Grace doesn't get the job.

Grace punches walls, because she always messes everything up.

"You didn't wear the necklace did you?" Luna says knowingly.

"No, but-."

"Next time, wear it."

"If there is a next time," Grace mutters glumly.

Despite Grace's doubts there are several more times. Those don't pan out either. Luna still attributes it to her refusal to where the necklace.

"Hogwarts is hiring," Luna remarks, looking up from the daily prophet, scanning for more clues for the latest conspiracy theory, Grace assumes.

"That's not about to happen."

"Just keep an open mind."

Despite all reason Grace finds herself back at the castle. Luna put a sticking charm on the Nargle necklace and Grace has been tugging at it uselessly the whole time.

It's a teaching aid position. The new Potions Professor is nearly overwhelmed by the now enormous student body. Slughorn apparently left after the battle. The new Professor is quiet, and reclusive. Grace would generally be working in the back, preparing potions, grading essays and setting things up before classes.

Grace gets the job. Luna obviously attributes it to the necklace, which took for ever to get off. Grace copes with the familiar surroundings, and the unfamiliar ones. She still gets lost occasionally. The Headmistress and the rest of the staff tease her in a warm fashion and Grace learns to laugh again.

Grace works and lives at Hogwarts for six years, much longer than she ever planned on staying. She only leaves because she doesn't want to teach potions after Ellena Mark retires. She can't imagine she'd make a very good teacher.

When Grace goes looking for work, or a "real job" as she calls it, it's just about as hard as the first time. She ends up living in the Leakey Cauldron for nearly eight months. She misses the Hogwart's feasts, and the kitchen. She never realized food could be so expensive. But she's got friends now, she's more open and finally she gets a job. Minimum wage, and entry level, even though she's better qualified than that.

Years pass. Grace still punches walls, and gets horrendously lost on occasion. Jobs come and go Grace saves money. Grace leases a shop in Hogsmeade. Grace spends too many nights bent over her table trying to figure out how to pay the bills.

Grace looks for jobs again.

Grace gets made a Godmother, she can never understand what it is with wizards and Godparents.

She tries to understand babies. Dennis laughs, and Grace shows the baby how to land a punch.

"Just in case you're rubbish at magic," she whispers to the giggling baby as Dennis pretends to keel over at her feeble blow.

Grace isn't financially secure enough to own and run a shop until she's in her late fifties. She throws caution to the wind and does it anyways.

Potions Shop:The Badger

Drunk idiots stumble in, under the assumption it's a bar. Mostly because it used to be one. Grace adds a bit more to the sign.

"We aren't a pub, you come looking for a drink and you'll be thrown out faster than a snitch can fly."

Grace, even with her bad shoulder, can break noses like clock work.

The shop does okay.

Grace gets to stand behind the counter in dark green robes, greying hair pulled back from her face and watch people filter in and out of her shop. She's got a mug of something her employes claim is completely unidentifiable.

"What the bloody hell is it?It smells like chocolate and pumpkin for Merlin's sake!"

She spends Christmas's with Dennis, his second wife and her Goddaughter Jane. Things just didn't work out the first time round. Dennis's first wife, Lydi, left when Jane was four. He found Trisha a few years later and Jane absolutely adores. Grace is glad to see them both happy again.

Grace flips through stacks and stacks of photo albums. It seems like Colin took millions of pictures. She's still got one or two left go through.

Life isn't perfect, it never was. But Grace loves it. She got real help, eventually, just like Colin asked her. It was like wading through acidic mud. But she made it, and she think Colin would be proud.

Grace was happy.


End file.
